Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2012

'OMAR KHAYYAM ON FORGIVENESS AND FALLING OFF THE WAGON'

I singlehandedly keep
this bar afloat.
My heart has bled
with repentance
a couple thousand times.
But if I don’t go on sinning,
what would divine mercy do?
He can’t bestow forgiveness
unless I keep falling
off the wagon.
 Translated by Juan Cole
from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 130

Oh, do I like this. What would God do with godself without sinners in need of forgiveness? Khayyam is such a rogue, but a thinking rogue, and he often makes me smile. (as I said at Juan's blog)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

WISDOM FROM MR CATOLICK


The scandal of Christmas is that you are asked to forgive. In the teeth of your anger and your lust for revenge, whilst you feel hurt and justified in your attitude and your position, the child asks you to forgive. Whilst there is blood all about and screaming in your ears, whilst the spit hits your face and the teeth are bared towards you, He asks you to forgive.

The scandal is that He asks you to do this without them seeking forgiveness; there is no desire for repayment sought, only the desire to pay, to put right, to restore goodness.
Read the rest of the post titled The Scandal of Christmas at Mr C's blog.

PS: It's still Christmas...the 3rd day.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, AND FORGIVENESS

Reinhold Niebuhr:
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

“Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.

“No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.

“Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness."

H/T to Rmj at Adventus.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

MY NOT VERY GOOD LENT

 

This year, I've not kept a very good Lent. I am not any longer settled in my mind about the meaning of a good Lent. I think, for me, it's not so much about giving up something I like, as it is about doing something good and positive. I made two Lenten resolutions: to be on time to Sunday services and to attend the Lenten meditations on Thursday evenings at my church. I've kept the resolution to arrive in good time on Sunday pretty well. I've was a little late only once. I failed the Thursday test across the board. In my conscious mind I wanted to attend, but I forgot every single Thursday.

In addition, I've been playing around in my mind with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I've reached one conclusion: Jesus was wise to teach us to forgive 70 times 7. I take Jesus' words on forgiveness seriously. Whether I forgive or not is a choice, but if I choose to hold on to resentment and unforgiveness, I know that I do wrong. I believe that forgiveness begins with an act of the will, which step I can only take with the help of God's grace. I've come to understand that forgiveness does not consist in feelings - warm and fuzzy feelings toward those to whom I extend forgiveness. However, I pray that my feelings will eventually line up with my will to forgive. When and if the feelings come in line, the entire process becomes easier.

I've also learned that once I've forgiven an offense, it's not necessarily a done deal forever and ever, amen. I realize that, at times, I must forgive the same damned offense over and over. That's when Jesus' answer to the question of how many times we must forgive comes alive. For me, the key is not to be defeated when hard feelings return toward the person who committed the offense that I thought was settled and forgiven, but to forgive all over again. I speak of persons both living and dead.

Do I wait to forgive until the person who offended asks forgiveness? Jesus did not, therefore I must not either. Besides, some people never ask forgiveness. Those pesky words in The Lord's Prayer, in which I ask God to forgive me as I forgive others simply do not go away, however much I would sometimes wish them to.

In purely human terms, I believe that harboring resentment and unforgiveness is unhealthy to the point of being poisonous.

Perhaps the "playing around in my mind with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation" will serve as a home Lenten meditation.

Thus endeth the sermon.

And I cheated by getting your attention with a cartoon sent by Ann. Please forgive me.